The first ever electronic trading of UK Government securities is being promoted by fixed income B2B platform provider eSpeed (www.espeed.com). Historically, UK Gilts have been traded only via voice assisted screen broking.
The wholesale UK Gilt market served by eSpeed's platform consists of 17 Gilt edged market makers (Gemms).
"The financial world is undergoing an electronic rebirth," says Lee Amaitis, director of eSpeed International. "We are excited to bring our brand of end-to-end electronic efficiency to an instrument as significant as the UK Gilt at a time coinciding with the issuance of the new long bond, the first in four years."
In size, the UK Gilt market is estimated at roughly £300 billion with an average weekly inter-dealer broker (IDB) turnover of about £10 billion.
From its headquarters in New York, the eSpeed system currently transacts $150 billion in financial instruments daily.